• 
• 
• 
• 

Today's Devotional

So that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us—Hebrews 6:18 (NASB).

It is the glory of the gospel that it reveals glad tidings to hopeless sinners. It finds nothing in us to entitle us to the favor of God: but it brings all hope and consolation to the soul, founded upon the most absolute promises, and the strongest assurance of an immutable God, as verily as it is impossible for any of the heirs of promise to perish. Such is the blessed hope set before us. Happy souls, who have fled to Jesus for refuge, and have laid hold of this hope. Hence forward nothing but consolation, strong consolation, arises to such poor sinners from the word of truth. This hope can never fail them; whatever within or without fluctuates or changes, this never can.

This hope is ever to be held fast, even though appearances wear a gloomy aspect, sense of comfort declines, feelings of joy seem dead, and all hope from ourselves forsakes us. But, Father, your mercies never die; your counsel shall stand, your oath cannot fail. Hope in these is an anchor to the soul.

Whatever storms or tempests are without, or when the swelling waves of corruption lift up their voice within, yet the God of hope is mightier than all, and the Christian hope rises above all; therefore is it sure and steady. It is cast out of sight within the veil. By this blessed hope of the gospel—poor sin-condemned, soul—distressed sinners are kept steady to Jesus, and find a comfortable and secure refuge. And that precious Spirit who shows them their danger, and guides them to safety, causes the joy of hope to spring up in their souls. They enjoy a good hope through grace, and are made to abound in hope by the power of the Holy Ghost. This is a comforting operative grace; it leads the soul to expect all that God has promised, even all the blessings of the everlasting covenant of grace, which flow to us from the life and death of Jesus. All are secured by the immutable counsel and solemn oath of an unchangeable God, both for time and eternity. And as a fruit and evidence that it is a holy, godly hope, it influences the soul in obedience to all the Lord’s commands. “And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure” (1 John 3:3 Holman). Thus Jesus is the only and alone object, through whom God reveals the hope of salvation. His work is finished: it is our happiness to believe this, and to rejoice in the hope it affords us. Christ is therefore ever to be looked to, and daily trusted in. And the more you are exercised in this way, so much the more inward hope and joyful consolation will be experienced in the soul. “My hope is in you” (Psalm 39:7 NIV).

About the author and the source

As a boy, William Mason (1719–1791), while outwardly moral, had no peace with God until he attended a Wesleyan chapel and found his righteousness in Christ. As a preacher and author, he rose at four in the morning to ransack Scripture for promises and to write the meditations that appeared in his Spiritual Treasury.